The 2010-2011 Avalanche Season started with some familiar themes.

First, the Avalanche continued a budding rivalry from last year with a fast, tight thriller versus the Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks.  Three of four 2009-2010 contests between Colorado & Chicago went to shootouts.  Two of those three ended the same way this new season began; 3-4 post-regulation style.

Matt Duchene played beyond his 19 years, another theme from last season, scoring a 2^nd Period goal and assisting on the OT winner by Paul Stastny.

Chris Stewart, another standout youngster from ’09-’10, made the Blackhawks’ old-new goaltender Marty Turco (35) look his age.  Stewie opened the Avs’ scoring with a pass-deke to flip-shot that had the former Dallas Stars netminder falling backwards into his own crease as the puck spun past him.

The most exciting trend that the Avalanche carried from last season into this one is a major victory for the whole team…

Colorado brought forth the tenacious, physical play they developed in April through their heroic playoff effort against the San Jose Sharks.

In that 2010 Cup Playoff Series, the young Avalanche were decided underdogs against a tough, veteran San Jose club.  It took a stunningly rapid improvement in energy level and execution just to hang in through that series, but the Avalanche took two of the first three before losing in six.

Tonight the Chicago Blackhawks skated into Denver as Cup Champs, and the Avalanche pressed back from a 0-1 deficit to take a 2-goal lead.

No small feat with Colorado getting just one Power Play to Chicago’s five through two periods.  More impressive, though, was how the Avs pushed back; with a tough, aggressive presence along the boards.

Colorado played defense-first hockey tonight, and it was good enough to stymie the reigning champions for most of the game.

Second-year Avalanche defenseman Ryan Wilson was lights-out in this one, and looks to be developing into the big, physical shut-down defender that Colorado will need to succeed in the postseason.  Offense-minded defenders Kyle Cumiskey and John-Michael Lyles were both +2 on the night.

The Avalanche’s next stop on the long road to the playoffs is in Philadelphia versus last year’s runner-up, the Eastern Conference Champion Flyers.  That stop in Philly followed by a visit to Detroit will kick off a 5-game road swing before the Avs return home to welcome those burly Sharks to town… heckuva way to start the new season.

For now, Colorado has a solid first victory to celebrate with the 1996 Cup Champion Avalanche in town for the home opener.  If the young Avs can carry their momentum through a week on the road and back home, they will be playing on another exciting 2009 theme… a red-hot start.

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Colorado honored former Av (& surprising sex symbol) Mike Ricci before Saturday's game

Wojtek Wolski broke out of his slump, Craig Anderson shut out the Oilers for the third time this season, and the Colorado Avalanche got a much-needed win Saturday night.

On a night that Colorado honored former mucker and fan-favorite Mike Ricci, the young Avalanche put in a workmanlike effort of their own.  The 2nd period resembled one long power play for Colorado even though neither team committed a penalty.  After dominating the first half of the game, Wolski finally put one home on a beautiful drop pass from Matt Duchene.  Matty’s feed to Wojtek was the result of an outstanding pass from Scott Hannan that sailed from the defensive zone over three Oilers and straight onto the stick of a streaking Duchene.

That goal proved to be the game-winner, even though Edmonton was very much in it until the final minutes.  The Avalanche’s 42 shots on goal did not include a pile of other missed opportunities that sailed wide of open nets.  The Oilers saw their fair share of scoring chances as the 1-0 tally carried well into the 3rd period.  It wasn’t until just inside the three-minute mark that the Avalanche had any kind of breathing room.  A hard slap-shot from rookie defenseman Ryan Wilson snuck through Edmonton goalie Jeff Deslauriers and trickled across the goal line.  Brandon Yip sealed the deal on an open-netter with just under a minute to play.

The 3-0 win kept the Avalanche on-pace behind NW Division leader Vancouver.  The Canucks grabbed two points of their own with a shootout victory over the sliding Bruins in Boston earlier in the day.

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John-Michael Liles may be saying goodbye to Colorado (Bonus Coverage below)

After rattling off six wins and climbing to 3^rd in the West, the Avalanche are back in the pack at 6^th after a trio of tight losses.  The quick, confident team that was creating space between itself and the hoards of conference playoff hopefuls has once again devolved into a tangle of rookies.  But wait!  Don’t lose hope.

The Avs lost to the kryptonic (they wear green, and they rock our weaknesses) Minnesota Wild on Thursday 0-1, and the Colorado offense disappeared two more games over the next three days against the Stars & Rangers.  The Wild simply have a power over us, and the only good news is that we won’t play them again until either the playoffs (not likely for Minnie) or next season.

In the meantime, Vancouver is the hottest team in the league going into an epic road trip that will span the Olympic break.  The ‘Nucks capped a seven-game streak with a 5-3 win after falling behind 0-3 at Toronto.  Thirteen more road games between now and March 10^th will most certainly wear down the Canucks.

The question is this; will the Avalanche capitalize and re-take the division.

Each of the three games that started with the Wild game featured a litany of bad bounces, failures to finish plays, and little mistakes that turned into big plays for the opposition.  As unfortunately prone to such bad streaks as the Avalanche are, they are just as accustomed to righting the ice-ship suddenly and with force.

Colorado plays four games this week, with one every other day until Monday.  This run of day-on, day-off scheduling stretches back to Friday’s game at Dallas, and continues through next Friday when the Avalanche host the Phoenix Coyotes.  If the ‘Lanche can get in a rhythm over the next week and a half, they may be battling those very Coyotes for a return to 3^rd place in the West.

Tue, Feb 2^nd vs Columbus Blue Jackets (7:00 MST)

PREDICTION:  AVALANCHE 3, BLUE JACKETS 1

Thu, Feb 4^th @ Nashville Predators (6:00 MST)

PREDICTION:  AVALANCHE 2, PREDATORS 4

Sat, Feb 6^th vs Edmonton Oilers (8:00 MST)

PREDICTION:  AVALANCHE 5, OILERS 3

Mon, Feb 8^th vs St. Louis Blues (7:30 MST)

PREDICTION:  AVALANCHE 2, BLUES 0

WEEK 19 PREDICTION:  3-1

**Bonus Coverage**

Liles on the Ropes

John-Michael Liles has long been a tolerated defensive liability.

His ability to run the Avalanche’s top Power Play unit & his nose for quick offensive strikes has made him one of the better offensive defensemen in the league.  When Joe Sacco took over the team in the offseason, John-Michael’s days may have already been numbered.  Sacco is a fundamentals-first coach, and he was bound to have problems with Liles’ D-zone play.

Despite his wealth of talent, Liles comes closer to trade fodder every day.  Coach Sacco sat John-Michael as a healthy scratch Sunday versus the Rangers, and the fact that rookie Ryan Wilson is getting much of Liles’ playing time does not bode well for Colorado’s 2000 draft pick.  With the trade deadline upcoming, Liles may be remembered as the defensive talent that never panned out for the Avs.

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Wojtek Wolski played a solid game but failed to score

See DanO’s Pro-Hockey Style Guide for refreshing analysis readability!

Colorado played a decent game, if not for the bad line change right before the only goal.

You could say they played near-perfect defensive hockey, but the Trap is predicated on taking advantage of any mistake.  The most remarkable thing about our offense is that the Minnesota goaltender played just one game and wasn’t that spectacular. The vast majority of the shots he faced were not difficult, and he wasn’t being bombarded.  John Michael Liles had an exceptional game, especially good since he’s been in my doghouse recently.  Our defense held the Wild pretty much in check the entire time until Sacco put the 4^th line out to play Minny’s 2^nd line for a minute with disastrous consequences (the only goal in the game.)

Offense was a different story all together.  Apart from the top line, we couldn’t get any consistent pressure.  While the defense was great in the D-zone, they managed the blue line poorly by letting far too many easily-played pucks leave the zone.  Ryan Wilson was particularly frustrating to watch, as he was served two one-timers in the third with a clear line of site and fanned on both of them.  Wojtek Wolski had a decent game, but pushed the puck wide from 15’ on his best scoring chance of the night.  Stas and Stewie had their chances too, but could only get a really good shooting situation once between them. (A goal of the Trap is to take away all the good shooting situations).

In the 2^nd period, the Avalanche got a two-on-one via a center try by Mikku Koivu that deflected out to Hannan in perfect position to make an outlet pass.  The defender played it terribly, allowing the pass from Stas to Stewie and then failing to take the shot away.   Stewy went top shelf far side against a moving Harding and nearly made it work.  It looked like a lucky save to me. A more talented goaltender who was a bit smaller would have missed it. Then again, that’s why they pay big men to be goaltenders.

I’m not too terribly disappointed in the Avs’ performance… although they should have won.   These game will happen, and the more the league move toward control hockey, the more the Avs will get easier games to make up for these.  I like where the Avalanche have themselves, and I think in a month when the Canucks make their way back to Vancouver, the ‘Lanche should be right back in front of the Division.   However, when the Avs play Columbus next week keep in mind: the deck is loaded.

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